Chapter Fifteen
Tony sighed deeply as he watched Gibbs leave, he knew that he wouldn’t go further than the chair outside his room, but still he wanted him to stay with him. He really didn’t feel up to talking about his attack and the following overdose with some doctor who seemed to disapprove of his relationship with his boss. Not that it mattered what anyone else thought, but they couldn’t risk many people finding out because of the fact that it could put their jobs at risk and Tony didn’t want to lose his job - some days it was the only thing that kept him going.
He could see Gibbs talking to the other doctor, who looked serious and he wondered what they were talking about. He knew that Gibbs would tell him when he could, but still, he hoped it wasn’t about him and wasn’t anything bad. After the past few days he felt he was owed some good things.
Dr. Mathers sighed as he watched the interaction between Tony and Gibbs, he hadn’t caught what the other man had mouthed at Tony, but he already knew that there was more to this relationship than simply a boss worried about his employee following what had to have been a traumatic rape and overdose. Dr. Foster had told him that Agent Gibbs had not left Tony’s side until he woke up and even then it was only to make a few phone calls and go to the bathroom. The rest of the time he had refused to leave, even when other medical personnel had asked him to.
“Okay, Tony, I just want to let you know that whatever you say here, stays here unless I feel that you are a danger to yourself or others in which case I have to inform somebody for your own safety. Do you understand?” he asked Tony, forcing him to stop looking out the door at Gibbs and at the doctor in front of him who had settled himself into Gibbs’ seat and had a notepad open with a pen poised to write whatever he saw fit.
“I still don’t see why Gibbs had to leave,” Tony replied, avoiding answering the question. He understood alright - one false move and he’d be sent to the psych ward the second he was healthy enough and then they’d drug him into oblivion until he was no longer able to tie his own shoes, let alone try and commit suicide again.
“Tony, I’m going to have to ask you some very personal questions that require honest answers and I don’t want you to feel unable to give me those answers because of anyone else in the room. Now, do you understand what I just explained to you?”
“Yeah, I get it, it’s all confidential unless you think I’m going to go and off myself or other people.”
“Okay, then let’s begin. Why don’t you tell me what happened before you took your overdose?”
“I hurt my shoulder a few weeks back at a crime scene. I wasn’t paying attention and this perp came out of nowhere, my partner, Ziva managed to shoot him before he did any real damage, but he got one round off and it hit me in the shoulder. I was going back to work the next day so I thought I’d go for a run,” Tony said, stopping to take a sip of water. “I left my cell and my gun behind because officially, I wasn’t back on duty and I didn’t want to have to stop and ID myself to anyone who saw me carrying. I started out on my usual running route, taking it slow because of my shoulder and then this guy comes outta nowhere and knocked me to the ground.” Tony took a deep breath, feeling himself start to panic and he wished that Gibbs was there to help him through this. It was the first time since the attack that he’d told anyone what had actually happened and it felt wrong that the person to hear it should be this stranger and not someone who could do something about righting the wrong that had been done to him.
“Please continue, Tony,” Dr. Mathers said, either ignoring or not noticing the discomfort Tony was in. He was writing in his note book and occasionally looking up to face Tony, but basically he wasn’t paying attention. If he had, he would have seen that Tony needed some space, that he wasn’t ready to tell this story yet, not alone, not without his family around him, not without Gibbs.
“He…he er, he kept pressing on my bad shoulder to keep me down. I kicked out at him I think but he had all his weight on me and I couldn’t get away. I remember trying, but I don’t know if I actually did,” Tony stumbled through, the scenes playing through his head over and over and he felt like his world was crumbling around him. He needed Gibbs.
He couldn’t stop the tears that were threatening to fall, but the doctor didn’t seem to notice them, he was more concerned with whatever he was writing in his note book. Why couldn’t he see that this was too raw, too painful for Tony to talk about alone? His heart rate was climbing as his system started to get stressed and if he could have, Tony would have gotten out of the bed and run to grab Gibbs from behind the door and hidden in Gibbs’ embrace until he felt safe again. He didn’t like this doctor and he sure as hell didn’t trust him.
Dr. Mathers looked up and saw the tears streaming down Tony’s cheeks. He knew that it was a painful subject for the young man to talk about, but his job dealt with painful subjects a lot and he felt that he was the best person for the job of hearing Tony describe his attack for the first time. He was pleased that he had banished the young man’s boss from the room because surely, Tony wouldn’t have made this much progress had he been there.
“I…I don’t want to talk about it,” Tony stammered, trying to regain some control over the situation.
“Tony, you will have to give a statement to the police when you’re feeling better physically, would it be better to go over it with them for the first time?” Dr. Mathers asked.
’At least I’ll be talking to my friends and I’ll have Gibbs with me,’ Tony thought. His heart rate grew higher and he was finding it harder and harder to catch his breath. Something was wrong and for whatever reason, the young doctor didn’t notice, he was too busy writing things down to check the many monitors surrounding his patient.
“Well, Tony, do you think that would be the best time to discuss it?” the doctor pressed again.
Tony lay back on his pillows and started to take deep breaths from the oxygen mask. He’d heard the nurses say that in a few more hours he’d be allowed a nasal canula, so long as he kept his oxygen saturations up. The room started to spin, and as the blackness took him away from the room, the last thing he saw was Gibbs shouting something and pressing a button.
~*~
Gibbs sat quietly outside Tony’s room. He couldn’t hear anything that was being said inside the room and neither did he want to. He knew that Tony had wanted him there, but maybe the doctor had been right to make him leave. This way Tony could share everything with him without worrying about upsetting Gibbs or anyone else. It meant that he could be as open as he needed to be.
It wasn’t until he heard the loud shrieking alarm of Tony’s heart monitor that he intervened, he’d kept his back to the window in the door so as not to distract Tony or give the doctor the impression that he didn’t trust him, but when he heard that alarm, he acted immediately.
He pushed open the door, despite the protests of the doctor and pressed the alarm while shouting, “stay with us, DiNozzo!” Tony’s eyes closed and his body started to thrash on the bed. Thankfully, the nurses had been at the desk, watching the remote monitors there so arrived quickly to assess the situation.
They paged Dr. Foster, and worked to keep Tony stable until he arrived. Gibbs kept out of their way, as did Dr. Mathers which was a good thing, because if he’d interfered Gibbs probably would have floored him. How could he have not noticed the climbing heart rate of his patient? The obvious distress Tony was in? If he hadn’t have been forced to leave, this wouldn’t have happened, Gibbs knew that for sure.
Dr. Foster arrived quickly, and soon had control of the situation. He ordered drugs to stop the seizure and had one of the nurses call down to the CAT scan to let them know they would be bringing down a patient shortly.
Once the seizure had stopped, Gibbs stepped up to the bed and grabbed Tony’s hand. He leaned down so that he was whispering into Tony’s ear. “I’m here, I won’t leave you unless I have to, but I’m here.” He planted a soft kiss on Tony’s forehead - not caring who saw it and what conclusions they drew and then turned to Dr. Foster.
“What happens now?” he asked, still keeping hold of Tony’s hand.
“We need to get a CAT scan to check for anything that could be causing the seizures, any underlying damage from the overdose or anything like that. I’m afraid you will have to wait for him to come back, family are not allowed to accompany patients to the scanner,” Dr. Foster told him. Gibbs nodded, keeping hold of Tony’s hand until the porters arrived to move Tony down to the scanner.
Once they were all gone, Gibbs rounded on Dr. Mathers. “Did you not noticed how stressed he was? Did you not think to check the monitors? He nearly died less than twenty-four hours ago and he still could. I want you off his case, I don’t care what you think or what you say, but you stay away from my agent because if you come near him again, I will make you wish you had never been born. Do I make myself clear?” he ranted.
“Yes, sir,” Dr. Mathers replied, a look of shock across his face.
“Dr. Foster, I know you have to leave to be with Tony and see the scans, but can you promise me and my team that this arsehole will not be on Tony’s case anymore?” Gibbs asked, keeping his temper in check.
“I’ll see to it that he’s removed from Tony’s case and will personally find a better psychiatrist for Tony. One that will allow you to stay through their consultation unless Tony wishes otherwise.”
Gibbs thanked the doctor, who disappeared after Tony, leaving Gibbs to wait for news - good or bad.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Who will catch DiNozzo when he falls?